Yes, thirty seasons have gone by in Colonie Wiffleball’s history. There were so many headlines coming into this weekend. The Yankees team attendance, the Yankees rookies, the Phillies first game, Alen Kalics managerial decisions, Jorge on the DL missing his first opening day ever, the Mets’ rookie, and their WS hangover.
Friday Night: A preview night. A pair of games with the Phillies at the center of both. Dakota Jackson, a solid fastball pitcher met the experienced Yankees team. He didn’t surrender an inch stifling the Yankee bats to a shutout. Rookie Edin and Dakota drove in the four runs the Phillies would need to win their first game against the Yankees. The Yankee bats were pretty dead. Kean went 0 for 6 with the platinum sombrero and no other Yankees were up to the challenge despite having 11 base runners in the game. Game two of the night was a thriller. The Phillies had a lead 6-3 lead but 13 year vet, Anthony Gadani tied the game in the fifth with a three run homer after homering twice previously in the game. Kyle got on base and set the stage for another Gadani three-run homer to give the Pirates a 9-6 win over the Phillies.
Saturday: The defending champs came in and whipped up a 15-0 beating on the Phillies behind a one hit performance by CY Young winner Josh Camp. The Pirates were next on their radar. Kyle pitched a great game through 3-1/2 keeping it within two runs but a couple of miscues led to an explosion by the Mets in the fourth. For Kyle this is a stepping stone. He’s filling the shoes for Jorge who is on the 14 day DL with an Achilles injury. This could be a good time for the Pirates to build up some strengths. They will however need another arm as the season develops. On the offensive side of the ball, they clubbed 6 homers in three games and currently lead the league in homers as a team.
Game three of the day was the highlight of the weekend. We expected no less of a Game 9 rematch between Murr and Camp. This was a thriller and it wasn’t worth five innings. Murr and Camp exchanged blank frames for 10 straight innings. The Mets and Yankees both had great defensive plays when needed although, Camp had the higher K count. The Yankees with one out got a double from new addition Pat Lasch and a single by Kean brought across a run in the 11th inning. The Yankees brought in Ilyadis to shut the door but not exactly. Pitching the day before seemed to have made an impact because a hit and a walk made it an interesting situation. But Mike got rookie Mike Brown to ground out to give the Yankees and 1-0 win and their first win of the year.
Game four was a classic matchup between the Yankees and Pirates. Kean starting his first game of the year against Gadani pitched extremely well given a couple of boneheaded defensive plays from his teammates. They came back in the second inning with a two-run single. But, the Pirates struck back with four runs in the fourth. The Yankees then got a run in the fifth down three from rookie Chris Morse A.K.A ‘The Deputy’. It set the stage for a late inning Gadani-Ilyadis showdown. Ilyadis got the best of him with a three run homer and gave the Yankees a 6-5 lead. The Pirates threatened with a bases loaded and one out situation but the Yanks shut the door and squeaked out with a 6-5 win.
Follow Up: Looking ahead to this week, there are six games on the schedule and based on this weekend, it looks to be a great season ahead. A lot of room from improvements for all teams and it gives us things to look forward to as the year progresses. Onward and upward into season number 30.
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